Images from a Historic Building Recording Survey of the Canal Tramway, Bude, Cornwall 2021
Connor Motley, 2021. https://doi.org/10.5284/1090392. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Cornwall Archaeological Unit unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 4244
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1090392
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
This collection comprises images from a building recording survey of the Canal Tramway undertaken by Cornwall Archaeological Unit between February and March 2021.
Cornwall Archaeological Unit was commissioned by Jon Walters of Cormac Solutions Ltd, to carry out a historic building record (equivalent to a Historic England level 2/3 survey) of the remains of the historic tramway beside the canal in Bude which had recently been exposed by rough seas. This work was undertaken in advance of the exposed stone surface being covered over.
The historic tramway, which lies within the Conservation Area, was used throughout the 19th century and first part of the 20th century to transport sand form the beach onto tug boats on the canal to be transported inland for agricultural soil improvement. The recently exposed section of tramway and associated sidings lies alongside and parallel with the Bude Canal. Pre-application planning advice indicated that a record of the exposed section of tramway should be made.
A total of four major construction phases of the tramway have been identified as a result of this study. The earliest construction phase (phase 1) dates to c1823 when the canal was first built. At this time the tramline was constructed with a flanged plateway and the trams were drawn by horse. During phase 2 (c1835) the sea lock was widened. This is likely to have meant that the existing tramline had to be moved to accommodate it. During phase 3 (early 20th century) the horse drawn plateway was replaced with a new iron, narrow gauge railroad which connected the quay to the mainline railway. This line was in use up until 1942. During the following decades after the tramway stopped operating the surface was used as a walkway and has recently undergone piecemeal repairs (phase 4).
